MSF responds to UK Global Fund contribution at MDG Summit

Response by Médecins Sans Frontières to the UK government's announcement at the United Nations Millennium Development Goals Summit to provide £1 billion to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria for the next three years, contingent on other donors committing $15 billion total:

"The UK government is challenging the international donor community to put its money where its mouth is. If the challenge is met, it will go a long way towards furthering the progress made over the past ten years in the fight against the three pandemic killers. Donors – including Germany, Australia, and the European Commission – must now step up to the plate to commit to providing full financial support to the Global Fund for the next three years.

We now know that ramping up treatment of HIV not only saves millions of lives, but also helps prevent the virus from spreading, just as we now have important new tools to finally start seriously tackling the drug-resistant TB epidemic which is spiralling out of control — now is the time to redouble our efforts. With only one in five people estimated to be in need of drug-resistant tuberculosis treatment actually receiving it, more countries must step up their contribution to the Global Fund and to funding DR-TB, if we are to close this deadly gap."